"Let's be very clear: There are no, no tax increases this year. There are no, no tax increases next year." -Lawrence Summers, chief economic adviser

WHAT THE FUCK is he talking aboot?!

The President's budget calls for the largest increase in the death tax in U.S. history in 2010.



The announcement of this tax increase is buried in footnote 1 on page 127 of the President's budget. That note reads: "The estate tax is maintained at its 2009 parameters." This means the death tax won't fall to zero next year as scheduled under current law, but estates will be taxed instead at up to 45%, with an exemption level of $3.5 million (or $7 million for a couple).
By raising the estate tax in the name of "fairness", Mr. Obama won't merely bring back from the dead one of the most despised of all federal taxes, and not merely splinter many family-owned enterprises. He will also forfeit half the jobs he hopes to gain from his $787 billion stimulus bill.